


For Their Amusement

by ocko_okate



Category: Actor RPF, British Actor RPF, Star Trek RPF, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-01
Updated: 2013-07-01
Packaged: 2017-12-16 19:06:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/865525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ocko_okate/pseuds/ocko_okate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They will never dare to underestimate him again...</p>
            </blockquote>





	For Their Amusement

„Eh, Fenton. The name is Fenton. Sir.“

It is one of those direct yet all-encompassing looks that Khan gives his inquisitor, captivating and chilling to the bone. Upon being directly addressed again, after a longer time of ignorance, the transformation in the man is subtle, yet instant. Gone is the facade of meekness and civilized, almost posh politeness he displayed until now, the mask of pleasant harmlessness.

„AND WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO DO TO FURTHER YOUR AMUSEMENT, MR. FENTON?“

The tone of the question is not menacing at all, purely speculative, curious, inquiring... And yet – that voice – shattering through the present well-established lethargy, vibrating in the walls, chilling the air, freezing the blood in the veins .... devoid of emotions but perfectly pleasant. He tilts his head to one side in a contemplative manner and poses the questions one after another in this precise, razor- sharp voice, all that while managing the air of polite, stone-cold friendliness.

„HAVEN’T I ALREADY PROVIDED ENOUGH MATERIAL TO ENSURE YOUR ENTERTAINMENT?“

As hard as it is to bear the intense attention of Khan’s warp-speed like intellect without squirming to please the man, this is not one of those questions that require an answer. It is only now that he stands up, slowly, the ever-present posture of a soldier, a warrior, a conqueror of worlds immediately shifting the gravitas of the entire room, the commandeering presence rendering anyone else inadequate by default.

„OR WOULD YOU PREFER TO SEE MORE PEOPLE SUFFER?“

Blood would be freezing in people’s veins were it not for the perfect civility and friendly tone of those questions, as if the topic was a purely speculative yet intellectually highly stimulating exercise, almost as if a new and exciting possibility was opening itself in front of Khan’s mind, as if until now he absolutely at all has not contemplated the question of ruthlessly killing even more people to suit his cause, yet found himself being proposed this exotic concept and lured in by its appeal – on a purely hypotetical level.

And all that while his movements are free, his hands and body unrestrained, the dangerous mental and physical superiority now ever so obvious in every move, his hands not even touching the desk in front of him while he leans forward, as if prepared to leap over it, and suddenly nobody in the room can forget the fact that this is the man that crushed an another man’s skull with his bare hands and certainly wouldn’t hesitate to do so again if so inclined... Whose idea was it to question him in a room full of unarmed civilians anyway, that is the thought that can be clearly read across several alarmed faces as the first onsets of panic start to rumble through the room...

And then, just like that, the spell is broken, the intensity gone from the man’s frame, in fact the genetically engineered superhuman himself is gone, as the actor who gives him life suddenly frowns rather sheepishly and upon breaking character gives the colourful mix people in front of him one of his previously so timidly charming smiles. All the ungainly self-consciousness is back as one of his large hands combs through the still jet-black hair nervously, dislocating a curl, as he says in a self-deprecating apology:

„Well, that would be that. I hope that it was not too much of a let-down for you, what in this suit and without all the cool CGI they surely add all around me... But that’s the best I could come up with on such a short notice.“ 

The wonderfully proper soft spoken British poshness of that last statement is probably what finally snaps his questioner back to life, a bespectacled stocky man of the fan part of this event. 

„Er, no, that ... that was actually just.. just what I was looking for,“ stammers the man (who identified himself as Fenton at the beginning) befuddled, „thank you ever so much, Mister, er... Khan“, he finishes lamely, completely gobsmacked, nobody caring to correct him on his slip of tongue, not only in regard to the actor present but also simply due to the fact that the official line still is that the villain’s name is John Harrison. And then he sits down again, eminently pleased to be out of the spotlight again, the poor, unsuspecting fan who asked the mild-mannered, so unassumingly pleasant looking British actor, whether he could slip into his villainy character at all so easily and whether he maybe would care for a little „preview“ for them. 

Them – the London press conference room, right before the very first official screening of the movie, chock-full of reporters, bloggers, movie critics, TV-crews, photographers, and the occasional fan, with the entire cast, writers and producers sitting behind the main table, going through the motions of a perfectly normal, hype-it-up-this-will-be-a-great-movie-everybody-had-so-much-fun-we-love-trekkies-press junket, which after the first couple of Kirk-Spock bromance-related questions quickly started to verge of into a slightly boring production-type discussion on the finer points of the Trek lore, occasionally interspersed with a question to either Pine or Quinto, largely forgoing anybody else at the table and prominently the new-comer, the much hailed „villain“ of the movie. At least until now...

As the wave of dread dies down as quickly as it welled up and people around the man and in the audience abandon the thought that they might just have been completely thrown by a simple three-line ad-libbed dramatic performance, one thing is for sure: the mild-mannered, deceivingly harmless-looking British import, he of the curious name of Benedict Cumberbatch is surely not to be overlooked at any future press/publicity event. Ever again.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you had fun reading this! This is my first fic in this archive as well as in this fandom so if you liked it I would be ever so grateful for any kind of feedback (kudos or comments). Thank you!


End file.
